District



(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. G. FOWLER & E. A. HENKLE.

PRINTING MACHINE Patented July 30 I anions. )1 J y m if uv PETERS Pholwlnnognphan Wathinglon. DJ-

(No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. O. FOWLER & E. A. HENKLE. PRINTING MACHINE.

No. 408,094. Patented July 30, 1889.

Wibzeaaai: w Jba'qaZ dizwlex N PETE'RS. Imam-Lithographer, Washing (No Model.) 5 Sheets-Sheet 3. Y

J. G. FOWLER 8; E. A. HENKLE.

' PRINTING MACHINE Patented July 30 WWW I? x Lllhogmpher, Washinglnn n.c

(No Model.) 5 SheetsSheet 4. J. 0. FOWLER 82 E. A. HENKIJE.

PRINTING MACHINE.

Patented July so map? Jul/aw N. PETERS. PhnloLilhngnphur. Wnshinglnm D C.

5 t e e h 4 S t e e 5 (No Model.)

J. C. FOWLER 82; E. A. HENK PRINTING MACHINE.

Patented July 30 7 Mm WW Jm N PETERS. Phnlub'klwnranhar, Wnshinglon. nc.

UNITED STATES PATE T OFFICE.

JOSEPH C. FOIVLER AND EDl VARD A. IIENKLE, OF \VASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNORS TO THE AMERICAN PRINTING PRESS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE,

PRINTING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 408,094, dated July 30, 1889.

Application filed Tannery 31, 1888. Serial No. 262,552. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern: It is our purpose, finally, to simplify and 50 Be it known that we, JOSEPH C. FOWLER improve this type of printing mechanism, to

and EDWARD A. HENKLE, citizens of the reduce the number of parts, to promote the United States, residing at \Vashington, in the efficiency and increase the speed, to econo- 5 District of Columbia, have invented new and mize the operation of power perfectin g-presses usefulImprovementsin Printing-Machines, of by reducing the labor required to feed and 55 which the following is a specification. operate the same, and by diminishing the Our invention relates to printing-presses, consumption of ink, and to render the printand more particularly to a perfecting-press ing mechanism capable of such perfect regis to printing from a rotating rectangular or quadter as to adapt it to the use of a book-press rangular bed upon a continuous web. as well as a newspaper-press.

It is our purpose to provide simple and In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1-is positive means whereby the forms arranged a side elevation of a press embodying our inupon such rectangular bed may be inked vention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the press I with a uniform pressure of the inking-rolls shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section upon each of the plane type-surfaces of the taken in a plane at right angles to the axis of 6 5 said rectangular bed, and whereby, also, the rotation of one of the rectangular beds, its higher speed of printing required in perfectplaten and the inking devices. Fig. at is a ing-presses may be attained without interfervertical section taken in the plane of the axis ing with the perfect operation of the inking of rotation of one of the platens, the scale bemechanism. ing somewhat enlarged. Fig. 5 is an end ele- It is our-furtherpurpose, also, to so organize vation of a portion of the platen shown in said inking apparatus and combine the same Fig. at. Fig. 6 is a detail vertical section with the eontinuously-rotating rectangular taken transversely to the shaft, showing the z 5 bed, that theform-rollers shallhaveauniform ink-font, the font and form rollers, and the rotation about a fixed center in addition to spreading-table, with means for rotating the their rotation upon their own axes, and shall font-roller. Fig. 7 is a vertical section in the be caused to traverse the several plane surplane of the axis of rotation of the inker, faces of the bed successively, with substanshowing the font, the spreading-table, and the 30 tially equal contact throughout. distributing and the form rollers. Fig. 8 is It is our further purpose to so organize a a detail section and perspective of the reperfecting-press printing upon a continuous verser, whereby the doctor is vibrated web from forms arranged upon the plane surlongitudinally. Fig. 9 is a diagram showing faces of two rectangular beds that perfect the manner of laying off the semi-cylindrical 35 register may be obtained; that the inking parts of the platen relatively to the square mechanism may be driven by positive means bed. 5 proportioned to the speed of the printing In the said drawings the reference-numeral mechanism, and that action of one shall alter- 1 denotes the frame-work of the press, having nate with that of the other, thereby avoiding any suitable form.

40 shock or jar and giving a more uniform pro- For the purpose of simplifying the descripgressive movement to the continuous web. tion as far as possible, it will follow the order It is our purpose, also, to combine with a of operation as nearly as may be, beginning press of the type specified a positive retardwith the pay-off of the continuous web and ing apparatus acting upon the roll of paper ending with the delivery of the perfected 45 as a brake to impart a uniform tension to the sheet at the other end of the press, the conweb as it passes through the press, to prestruction, function, and co-operation of each vent its being paid off so rapidly as to form element being given in the order in which it a slack, whereby sudden jerks upon the web acts. are produced, endangering its integrity. The paper is taken from a roll 2,11aving an aXis the journals 3 of which are mounted in bearings 4 upon the ends of brackets 5, mounted upon the end of the press-frame. From this roll the continuous web is led to and under a guide-roller 6, whence it passes upward between the first bed and impresser. As the draft upon the web is nearly, but not quite, uniform and the rotation of the roll 2 substantially uninterrupted, it is desirable that means he provided to retard the rotation of the said roll, to maintain a constant tension upon the web, and avoid the formation of repeated slack portions between the roll 2 and the printing mechanism. e therefore impose upon the upper part of the roll a spool 7, having end flanges or heads 8, which overlap the edges of the roll, said spool being mounted on a shaft 9, journaled in the ends of parallel arms 10. These arms are pivotally mounted upon the ends of a shaft 12, journaled in the press-frame 1, said shaft carrying at one end a spur-gear 13 and a miter-gear 14. on the face of said spur-gear. J ournaled in collars 15, mounted upon one of the arms 10, is a shaft 16, having at one end a miter-gear 17 and at the other end a similar miter-gear 18, the former meshing with the miter-gear 14 and the latter with a miter-gear 19 upon the shaft of the spool 7. The spur-gear 13 being driven in the direction of the arrowin Fig. 1, rotation in said direction will turn the spool in the direction contrary to that of the web as it is taken from the roll 2, thereby retarding the revolution of the latter and imparting a fixed degree of tension to the web. As the diameter of the roll 2 diminishes, the arms 10 will drop by their own weight and the gravity of the spool, preserving a like tension at all times. As the diameter of the roll 2 decreases, there will be a slight increase of tension due to that cause, especially as the roll becomes quite small; but. when diminished to this point the roll will usually be removed and a new one substituted. Our purpose is to so mount the roll that it shall turn with the utmost possible ease, the oppositely-rotating spool 7 being relied upon to retard the rotation and produce the proper degree of tension. From the guide-roller 6 the web passes between the first bed and imprcsser, as al ready stated.

The bed consists of a rectangular body or shell 20, having four equal sides 21, upon which the type are imposed and upon which surfaces the forms are locked up and secured in any desired manner. Upon one end of this square bed are mounted straight gears 22, having teeth 23, lying in a straight or approximately straight line, and terminating at a distance from the ends of the gear-plate about equal to the interval occupied by a single tooth, thereby leaving a plain space 24 at each angle of the bed. The four gear-plates 22 are all equal and similar and may be fastened upon. the end of the rectangular bed by screws 25, or in any other suitable manner.

The .impresser co-operating with the rootangular bed described consists of four semicylindrical shells 26, so arranged upon asuitable support 27 that the four straight lines passing through their centers and touching the terminals of 'each semicircumference shall, when prolonged, form a perfect square. Each semi-cylinder measures circumferentially a distance equal to the width of one of the equal faces of the bed, and they are so arranged upon their rotating support 27 that the four diametrical lines d must be prolonged in each direction in order to meet the degree of prolongation, being'substantially equal to the interval left between the last tooth 23 of each gear-plate 22 and the end of the plate. This construction forms a pocket or angle 28 between the adjacent semi-cylinders, which, as shown in Fig. 3, is equal to the denuded angle of any two of the geanplates 22.

Upon one end of each semi-cylinder is mounted a half-gear 30, the pitch-line of its teeth being substantially coincident with the surface of the semi-cylinder. The half-gears are mounted in such manner as to provide for their adjustment relatively to the-semi-cylindrical axis of the straight gear with which it meshes. One construction for this purpose is shown in Fig. 5, the half-gear being provided with an elongated opening 31. to receive a screw 32, passing into the end of the support 27, while two bolts 33, tapped through brackets 34, bear against the edge of the half-gear upon opposite sides of its axis, jam-nuts 35 being turned on each bolt. Aboss 30 is formed at the center of each half-gear and provided with an opening to receive the rod 31, which passes through the ends of each semi-cylindrical shell, and has nuts 32 turned on its ends, Fig. at.

In the intervals or pockets 28 we arrange diagonal tension devices 30, to which or by which the tympans or blankets covering the semi cylindrical shells are attached or stretched.

The support 27 is mounted upon a central shaft 38, j ournaled in brackets 39 on the frame 1, and upon the end of said shaft is agearetO, meshing with the spur gear 13 and with an intermediate gearahwhich communicates rotation to gear 42 equal to the gear 40, whereby movement is given the inking mechanism and the second impresser 50, presently to be described. The bed 20 derives its movement directly from the half-gears 30, meshing with the straight gears 22.

By the construction already described, and by reference to Fig. 3 of the drawings, it will be seen that before the terminal teeth at the ends of one of the straight gears 22 have withdrawn entirely from the last teeth of the intermeshing half-gear 30 the initial teeth of the succeeding straight gear will already have meshed with the next succeeding half-gear. Thus a constant engagement of the gearing is secured, whereby there is no shock or jar, as the several semi-cylindrical impressers e11- gage successively with the plane surfaces of the rectangular bed. Each bed is supported by a central shaft 43, journaled in brackets 44: on the frame 1.

The paper web passes between the bed and impresser, and thence over a verti cally-adj ustable guide-roller 45, having support in brackets 46, which slide upon uprights 47. Over a second bed 48 is placed a second guideroller 49, supported 011 uprights 47, over which the web is carried, and thence downward,passing I between the second bed a8 and the second in1- presser 50. These parts are constructed in precisely the same manner as those already described, and. motion is communicated to them by a gear 51, meshing with the gear 42. The entire mechanism is driven from the shaft 52, having a suit-able pulley or drum 53. The gears 40, 4:2, and 51 are all of equal size and similarly toothed, so that synchronous revolution is given to the two impressers 26 and 50, and by them imparted to the rectangular beds 20 and 48.

It will be noticed that the paper is carried in such manner that the two beds print upon opposite surfaces of the continuous web. For this reason these beds must revolve in opposite directions. Moreover, it is desirable that the impressions by the two beds shall be alternate, rather than simultaneous, as we thereby lessen'the shock and jar of the machinery and render the movement of the web more nearly uniform.

The forms are inked by the positive mech anism shown in Fig. 1 and in detail in Figs. 3 and 7. This apparatus consists of an inking-frame 54, mounted upon a central shaft 55, said frame being composed of two similar and parallel plates 54, rigidly connected by tie-rods 56. In each end of this frame is journaled a form-roller 57 and a distributing-roller 58, revolving in contact with the form-roller. Mounted upon the shaft 55 in such manner as to be secured against rotation is the inktable 59, consisting of a cylinder having in the upper side thereof a pocket 60, which forms the font. In this pocket is journaled the font-roller 61, having its periphery in the plane of the cylindrical surface of the table, the distributing-roll 58 being journaled at such a point that it will roll upon the surface of the table 56 at each revolution of the frame 54:. A fountain-knife 62 is arranged to remove the excess of ink from the font-roll er and secure its even distribution thereon, and this fountain-knife is adjustable toward and from the font roller in the usual manner.

An intermittent revolution is imparted to the font-roller 61 by means of a ratchet 63 on the shaft of said roller, with which a vibrating pawl 6i engages, as seen in Fig. 6. This pawl is formed or rigidly mounted upon a ring 64, running upon an eccentric 65 upon the end of the central shaft 55. As the latter revolves,

the pawl vibrates or reciprocates in the direction of its length, and at each revolution it turns the ratchet a step forward.

\Ve may mount a second pawl 66 upon the eccentric 65 by a pivot-joint 67 and connect it by a spring 68 with the pawl 64. This second pawl being upon the side of the ratchet opposite to the pawl 64, it will act as a drawing-pawl,while the pawl 64 isapushing-pawl. They will thus alternate in action, and by the use of both pawls the font-roller may be driven at double speed, thereby supplying double the quantity of ink to the distributingroller 58. WVhen .the requirements of the press are such as to render this unnecessary, the auxiliary pawl 66 may be drawn back and a pin 69 inserted in front of it to hold it out of engagement with the ratchet. The rotation of the frame 54 being in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 6, the pawl 64 will be held in mesh with the ratchet 63 thereby.

The distributing-roller 58 is vibrated longitudinally by means of a double thread 70 upon one end of its shaft, with which a ores cent 71 engages, Fig. 8, said crescent having a stud 72, which sits in a soeket-piece 7 3. At each end of the double thread 70 is a collar 74, having its face 75 inclined to the axis of the shaft at the same angle as the pitch of the thread leading from said collar. Consequently, as the shaft travels longitudinally, one or the other ofthese collars is brought in contact with the forked crescent 71, swiveling it in its socket 7 3 and thereby turning the forked port-ion embracing the shaft into the reverse thread.

WVe preferably journal the form-rollers 57 in short bracket-arms 76, pivotally mounted on the ends of the frame 54:. These arms are provided with slots 7 7, whereby a radial as well as a limited circular adjustment maybe given to the roller.

The shaft 55 is journaled in brackets 78 on the frame 1, and is provided with a gear 79, meshing with gear 42, but of half the diameter of the former, whereby the inking-frame will be driven at double the speed of the bed 20, but in the same direction, as shown in Fig. 1. The second inking-frame is driven by a gear 80, meshing with the gear on the powershaft 52, said gear 80 imparting rotation to a gear 81 on the shaft of the second inkingframe. The gear 80 being of the same size with the gears 40, 42, and 51, and the gear 81 being similar to the gear 7 9, both inkingframes are driven-at a like speed.

From the second bed and platen the web passes over a guide-roller 82, thence over asecond guide-roller 83, and then to the cutting and folding mechanism,which,inasmuch as the same is made the subject-matter of a separate application filed of even date herewith, will not be described here.

From the construction and organization set forth we are able to ink the forms perfectly, the form-rollers having uniform contact with all portions of the type-surface. This result is due to the fact that although the met angular bed and the inking-frame rot-ate in reverse directions their relative speed is so calculated that the contact of the formroller shall be substantially the same upon all parts of the type-surface. By gearing the machine in such manner that the inkingframe is driven at double the speed of the rectangular bed and in the same direction therewith this result may be accomplished without special regard to the size of the rectangular bed, or the radial distance of the form-roller from its center of rotation, provided said distance shall not be materially less than the radius of the circle inscribed within the rectangular bed.

It should be noted that we may use a formroller having such diameter as to enable us to dispense with the distributing-roller 58.

In laying off the arcs of the impressers 26 and 50 we use the geometrical diagram shown in Fig. 9. 'In this diagram the problem is, a perfect square being given, to lay off a series of four equal arcs equally distant from the center of rotation, which shall successively roll upon the four plane surfaces of the bed.

This theorem may be briefly stated as follows: Letters A B O D represent a given rectangle having its center in the plane E X at O. Inscribe the circle I) t' 10 Z tangent to its sides. Taking the intersection of A B and B D at B as a center and V B as a radius, construct a circle. Inscribe within it a rectangle a b c d tangent to its circumference in such a manner that were the line A B prolonged in the direction of 76 it would bisect diagonally the angle Z) 0 cl. In like manner would the line b d, if prolonged in the direction of I, bisect the angle a b c at right angles to A K. At a point in the line E B 0, outside the given rectangle, and distant from the point B twice the radius of V B, place the point 0 and draw through it at right angles to each other the lines R T and U S, parallel to the sides A b and B cl. From the point 0, as a common center, draw the four indefinite lines L M N P, and mark their intersection with the lines U S and R T, to form the points a Z) c d, about which centers draw the arcs n 0 p s, tangent to the plane E X and its perpendicular y .2, each of which arcs will be found to be of equal length with the sides of the given rectangle A B D E.

The above geometrical diagram will give the relative curves, locations, and dimensions of any impresser relatively to the rectangular bed.

WVhat we claim is- 1. In a printing-press, the combination, with a rectangular bed, of a positively-driven inking-frame having continuous movement, and form-rollers mounted upon said inkingframe and having uniform contact successively with the four plane faces of the rectansubstantially cylindrical form, with which said rollers have contact during a portion of each revolution of the inking-frame, substantially as described.

3. In a printing-press, the combination, with a rotary rectangular bed, of an inkingframe rotating on a central shaft, inking-rollers journaled in the ends of said frame, an inking-table of substantially cylindrical form rigidly mounted upon said shaft and having an ink pocket or font formed in the upper portion thereof, a font-roller journaled in said font, with its periphery in the cylindrical plane of the ink-table, and means for giving said font-roller an intermittent rotation and for rotating the rectangular bed and inking-frame in the same direction, the latter being driven at double the speed of the former, substantially as described.

4. In a printing-press, the combination, with the rectangular bed, of an inking-frame centrally journaled and having inking-rollers mounted in the ends thereof, an inkingtable having cylindrical form and provided with a pocket or font roller revolving in said font and having a ratchet on the shaft of said roller, an eccentric mounted on the shaft of the inking-frame, and a ring running on said eccentric and having a pawl rigid thereon which engages with the ratchet of the fontroller, substantially as described.

5. In a printing-press, the combination, with a rectangular bed and with a continuously-rotating inking-frame having formrollers journaled in its ends, of a cylindrical ink-table rigidly mounted on said shaft between the ends of the said frame and hav 'ing a pocket or font in its upper part, a fontroller j onrnaled to revolve in said pocket and having a ratchet 011 its shaft, an eccentric on the shaft of the inking-frame, a ring running on said eccentric and having a pawl rigid thereon, with its nose engaging the ratchet of the font-roller, a second pawl pivoted upon said ring, and a spring connecting the saine to the pawl on the opposite side of the ratchet, substantially as described.

6. In a printing-press operating upon a continuous web, the combination, with the printing mechanism, of a spool resting upon the surface of the paper in the roll and carried by arms pivotally mounted on a shaft driven by the machine, said shaft having gears by which rotation is given said spool in a direction opposite to the feed of the paper through a shaft journaled in one of the pivoted arms, and having a gear meshing with a gear on the spool, substantially as described.

7. In a printing-press, the combination, with the printing mechanism, of a pair of arms pivotally mounted upon a shaft of said mechanism, a spool journaled in the ends of said arms and having a miter-gear in its shaft, and a counter-shaft carrying a miter meshing with that on the spool-shaft and IIO the flat faces of the square bed with substantially uniform contact, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures 15 in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH O. FOWLER. EDWARD A. HENKLE. \Vitnesses:

Jos. L. CooMBs, J. A. RUTHERFORD. 

